While members of the press can attend E3 to try out the latest and greatest in gaming, your average consumer is left out in the cold. Major game retailer GameStop is giving those folks an opportunity to get a sneak peak of what’s coming down the line at the GameStop Expo, a one day event held on August 29 in San Antonio, Texas.

Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Activision, EA, and “dozen’s more” will all be present to promote their upcoming games and interact with fans. Tickets start at $35 but you can also opt for a $100 VIP package that includes entrance to special sessions put on by the publishers, VIP lines for autographs, a “GameStop hospitality room,” and a special bag in which to place all the swag you are bound to pick up.

Come 2022, Capcom plans to be the number one publisher of video games and this is how their CEO, Kenzo Tsujimoto, says they will do it.

Capcom has a stable of major brands (Resident Evil, Mega Man, Monster Hunter, etc.) and they hope to exploit them more quickly going forward, all the while building up and capitalizing on new franchises. Key to accomplishing this goal is making games quicker, which boils down to shortening production times from 3 or 4 years to 2.5 or less.

Of course, making more games in less time means they will need more people and money, but that is something they are planning for. Capcom hopes to hire about 100 new developers per year for the next decade. As for the money, Capcom will expand more into the highly profitable world of mobile and online games while also placing a greater emphasis on supporting retail releases with more DLC.

Famed Nintendo developer Shigeru Miyamoto has been awarded the 2012 Principe de Asturias for Communications and Humanities. Miyamoto beat out 21 other contenders, a group that included philosophers, comedians, artists, and academics from all over the world.

This was actually Miyamoto’s third nomination, having previously lost the award in 2011 and 2010. For the decades he has spent defining one of the world’s fastest growing sources of art and entertainment, Miyamoto will receive 50,000 euros, a diploma, and a badge, while a statue will be made of his likeness and a ceremony will thrown in his honor where he will have the opportunity to give a speech in front of the Prince of Spain.

This is just another piece of evidence that video games are, in fact, more important than philosophy.

One Response to “Nightly News Roundup: 05.23.2012”

Videogames aren’t more important than philosophy, because philosophy preceedes videogames, in fact videogames often represent philosophical ideas or deal with philosophical themes. But they are certainly more fun than philosophy and that is what matters. Con gratulations to Miyamoto Sama, king of videogame land!